Awesome random bird facts

[ecologygirl]

I'm working the bird life history project I mentioned before. As I add to the dataset, I'm using the fantastic series Handbook of Birds of the World to find information on feeding and breeding behaviors. To find the relevant data, I often end up skimming longer sections of text, and stumble upon fascinating but useless (for me, right now) information. For example, did you know that male sandgrouse, which live in arid Mediterranean and middle east regions and must drink water every day, carry water in their belly feather to their babies? Their feathers are specially adapted for holding water - they hold 15-20 ml of water per gram of dry weight; a kitchen sponge can only hold about 5 ml per gram. The male enters the water and ruffles his feathers, "at the same time rocking to and fro," then flies back to his kids, where he walk funny, with his feet far apart. The chicks gather underneath him and suckle at his feathers. The book states "undoubtedly this is a splendid adaptation for sandgrouse." I think it's splendidly adorable!

Yeah, this project is taking much longer than it should, because I keep getting distracted by the awesomeness that is Class Aves.